Faculty and Staff

Rhoda Bernard, Managing Director

Rhoda Bernard holds a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, in government from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Music with academic honors in jazz voice from New England Conservatory. She earned both her Master of Education and Doctor of Education degrees from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Bernard regularly presents research at conferences throughout the United States and abroad, and she provides professional development workshops for educators in local, national, and international forums. Her work has been published in several book chapters and in numerous journals, including Music Educators Journal; Music Education Research; Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education; Mountain Lake Reader; and Arts and Learning Research Journal. Bernard has been honored with the Berklee Urban Service Award (2017), the Boston Conservatory Community Service Award (2011), the Boston Conservatory Faculty/Staff Spirit Award (2007), and the Outstanding Dissertation Award, Honorable Mention (Second Place) from the Arts and Learning Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association. A vocalist and pianist who specializes in jazz music and Jewish Music in Yiddish and Hebrew, she performs regularly with a number of klezmer bands and has recorded two CDs with the band Klezamir.

Krista Jadro, Consultant

Krista Jadro graduated from the University of Delaware with a Bachelor of Music in music education and a Master of Music in music education in early childhood and general music. During her graduate studies, she was the early childhood music coordinator for the University of Delaware’s Community Music School. Upon graduation, she taught music to students with autism for six years at the Developmental Learning Centers in New Jersey. She is currently the director of early childhood education for Brookline Music School and a consultant and trainer for our Music Class for Young Children.

Victoria LaRiccia, Faculty, Consultant

Raised in a musical household, Victoria LaRiccia taught herself guitar during her middle-school, high-school, and college years. After college, she founded two local bands, performing on bass, keyboard, and vocals, and discovered a passion for the stage and performance. During this time, LaRiccia began teaching students with autism and incorporated her love of music into her instruction. In 2008, LaRiccia became a consultant to Boston Conservatory’s programs for students on the autism spectrum, and she has been consulting since. LaRiccia has been a special-education teacher in the public schools of Brookline for middle-school students with various moderate disabilities, including communication and emotional disabilities, Down syndrome, ADHD, and autism spectrum disorders for several years. She earned a B.A. in psychology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a Master of Education in special education/moderate disabilities from Cambridge College. LaRiccia has presented on the topics of music instruction and autism at numerous professional development workshops and conferences for educators and administration throughout Massachusetts. In 2016, she began teaching courses in Boston Conservatory at Berklee's Music Education with a Concentration in Music and Autism graduate programs.

Katie Marshall, Consultant

For 12 years Katie Marshall has been working with children diagnosed with autism. While at Westfield State University she studied vocal performance as well as psychology. After graduating, she began working in the field of applied behavior analysis as a home therapist. In 2009, she started working at a specialized school called Nashoba Learning Group, where she now works as a full-time clinical manager. Marshall graduated from Endicott College with a master's degree in education, specializing in special education and behavior analysis, in 2015.

Elizabeth Stringer Keefe, Faculty

Elizabeth Stringer Keefe is an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education at Lesley University and a doctoral candidate at Boston College. Her work focuses on the preparation of teachers who work with students with autism, and includes teacher education policy and the Massachusetts autism teacher endorsement. Stringer Keefe has research interests in assistive and digital technology, and its use in educational settings. She has more than 20 years of experience in public and private education settings as a teacher, consultant, and critical friend to various nonprofits. She is a member of the board of directors for Technology for Autism Now, the Autism Society of America Massachusetts Chapter, and the Autism Center of Massachusetts Advocates for Children. She is president of the Massachusetts Council for Exceptional Children. Stringer Keefe teaches the course Introduction to Autism Spectrum Disorders.